SAN DIEGO – Santa Clara men's basketball shot an outstanding 63.5 percent from the floor to power their way to an 85-73 victory at San Diego on Saturday evening. The Broncos led by as much as 26 as they completed the regular-season series sweep over the Toreros and improved to 8-1 in WCC play.
Four Broncos reached double figure scoring led by 16 points from
Christian Hammond and
Bukky Oboye, who also flirted with a double-double with a career high-tying eight rebounds.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
- Santa Clara (17-5, 8-1) set the tempo early with an incredibly efficient opening half that saw the Broncos shoot 65.2 percent from the floor en route to mounting a 12-point advantage at the break.
- SCU jumped out to a 15-4 advantage out of the gate with Sash Gavalyugov burying a deep triple to cap a 6-0 scoring burst that bookend the run. The Broncos maintained the lead for entirety of the opening half and led by as much as 13 with 6:19 remaining.
- Hammond and Oboye each scored eight points in the opening half to lead the scoring attack while Elijah Mahi was right behind them with seven points, including a layup just ahead of the buzzer to send the Broncos into the locker room up 41-29.
- The Broncos began the second half much like they did the first with yet another big run out of the gate. This time it was of the 12-1 flavor and pushed the lead up to 23 at 53-30 ahead of the first media timeout of the half.
- Santa Clara led by as much as 26 at 66-40 with 11:15 remaining and continued to hold at least a 20-point advantage until the Toreros began to chip away at the deficit in the final four minutes. San Diego (9-13, 3-6) closed the game on a 13-3 run over the final 4:19 of action to make it a 12-point affair at the final buzzer.
- The Broncos finished 33-of-52 from the floor (62.5) while holding San Diego to just 39.4 percent, including a 3-for-23 mark from 3-point range (13 percent).
- Santa Clara outrebounded the Toreros 38-36 and dished out 21 assists on their 33 made buckets.
- Adrian McIntyre led the Toreros with a game-high 20 points while Ty-Laur Johnson, the WCC's leading scorer in league games, tallied 19 points.
NOTABLE NUMBERS:
- Hammond scored in double figures for the seventh time in the last eight games and for the 18th time overall. He finished 4-for-6 from 3-point range for 16 points.
- Oboye's 16 points are his second-highest scoring total of the year (22) and his ninth game in double figure scoring this season. The big man was a perfect 6-for-6 from the field and 4-for-5 at the charity stripe.
- Oboye tied his career-high in rebounds with eight and extended his streak of blocking at least one shot to seven straight.
- Mahi reached the double figure scoring column for the 17th time, finishing 4-for-6 from the field for 12 points. He also tallied a pair of assists and three rebounds.
- Graves also scored 12 points (6-9 FG) for his sixth consecutive game with 10 or more. The redshirt freshman has 14 such games on the season.
- Graves also posted a career-high five blocks, the second-most by a Bronco this season (seven by Oboye).
- KJ Cochran tallied a season-high four assists.
- Brenton Knapper tied his career-high for steals with a game-high three to go with five rebounds and three assists.
- Jake Ensminger notched six points, four rebounds and a team-best five assists – his team-leading seventh game with five or more on the year.
- Santa Clara's 63.5 shooting percentage finished just slightly behind their season-best mark of 63.6 percent at Oregon State.
- The Broncos posted eight blocks, their third-most in a game this season.
- Santa Clara tallied their 14th game with 10 or more treys, finishing 10-of-25 (40 percent).
- SCU is 13-0 on the year when scoring 80 or more points.
- Santa Clara extended their win streak against the Toreros to six straight and improved to 61-40 all-time in the series.
- At 8-1, Santa Clara is off to their best start in conference play since 1994-95 when the Broncos won the regular season WCC title at 12-2 en route to the NCAA Tournament.
POSTGAME COMMENTS:
UP NEXT:
The Broncos return to the comfort of the Leavey Center on Wednesday to host rival San Francisco. The game is set for an 8:00 p.m. PT tip and will be national broadcast on CBS Sports Network.
